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Neuromuscular Rehabilitation · Tustin, CA

Corrective Exercise Therapy in Tustin, CA

Corrective exercise is a short list of drills written after an exam, not a sheet of generic gym exercises. Dose, rest, and a stop rule are part of the prescription. The work sits in Neuromuscular Rehabilitation and is paired with hands-on care so you practice a range the joint can actually reach. Dr. Tara Kohen changes the dose when the drill gets easy or when symptoms climb. Patients from Tustin are seen at 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo, about 16 miles and 25–40 minutes by the 55 south to the 73 toward Mission Viejo.

Drills chosen after the exam, not from a poster

The drill exists because a test failed. A hip that drops during a step gets a drill for that drop, not a general core circuit. A shoulder that shrugs during a reach gets a drill that keeps the shoulder blade quiet. If the exam never looked at the pattern, there is no honest exercise to give. Corrective exercise therapy starts when the finding has a name.

You will not be handed a twelve-move program on day one. Two or three drills are plenty if they match the problem and you will actually do them. Knee pain that shows up in a step-down is practiced as a step-down, with a mirror or a hand on the hip so the error is visible. The exercise looks like the task that hurts, scaled down.

Dose, rest, and a rule for stopping

A drill has a number of reps, a rest, and a sign that means stop. The sign might be the knee collapsing inward, a pinch at the shoulder, or pain that spreads farther than it did at the start. More reps are not a better session when the form breaks. Dr. Sani Kohen would rather you stop at six clean reps than grind out twelve sloppy ones.

Dosage also means how often across the week. A motor-control drill may be short and daily. A strength drill may be heavier and less frequent once the pattern is clean. Those are different jobs, and they are not assigned on the same day by habit. If soreness from the drill is still climbing at the next visit, the dose was too high and it comes down.

Hands-on care and the drill in one visit

Hands-on work can open a range the drill then uses before you leave. A stiff hip that is mobilized and then asked to hinge will often hinge better than a hip that only stretched in the parking lot. The order matters. Exercise on a joint that cannot reach the position just rehearses the compensation.

The reverse is also true. A perfect table technique that is never loaded will fade. Dynamic neuromuscular stabilization may supply the breathing and trunk strategy, and the corrective drill then puts that strategy into a squat, a carry, or a reach. Neuromuscular Rehabilitation is this pairing: input from the hands, then a task the nervous system has to own.

What changes when the drill gets easy

Easy is a finding, not a finish. The next step might be a slower tempo, a smaller base, or a light load. It might also be retiring the drill because the original test now passes. Keeping a beginner drill for months after it is clean wastes the visits. The chart should show the old test and the new one.

People training for a sport bring the season into the dose. Shoulder pain during overhead work is not loaded overhead on day one if the scapula cannot hold position. The path back to the sport is written in steps you can see. A free 20-minute consultation can sort out whether you need this kind of dosing before a full neuromuscular visit. Sessions often run 30 to 60 minutes depending on the plan.

What a Corrective Exercise Therapy visit is like

Expect to move more than you lie still. You will be coached on one error at a time, filmed or mirrored if that helps you see it, and asked to repeat the clean version. The room is a gym corner and a treatment table, and both get used. Bring the shoes you train in if the problem shows up on your feet.

You leave with the dose written down, including when to stop. Mild muscle effort is expected. Sharp joint pain is a reason to change the drill, not to push through. FRI is out of network, accepts HSA and FSA cards, and provides a superbill. If a previous program was a long generic list, bring it. It shows what has already failed to stick.

Fees, referrals, and the doctors

Out of network. Superbill. HSA and FSA. No referral required. We will not change a prescription from your physician. Emergency symptoms, including sudden neurologic loss, go to the ER rather than to La Alameda.

Drs. Sani and Tara Kohen practice at FRI. Their backgrounds are on the about page. The suite and gym are on the office page.

Old Town, the Legacy, and the North Tustin hills

Tustin has three different weeks. Old Town is walkable, with short blocks and a lot of sitting in cafes and small offices. Tustin Legacy, on the old base, is wide, new, and built around a car. North Tustin and the hills toward Foothill are grades, older homes, and a drive down to the 55. A low back from Legacy commuting is not a knee from a North Tustin hill. We ask which one you live in before we guess at a load.

The District and the shopping around the Legacy add standing errands on top of desk jobs. Neck pain and headaches often belong to the screen. Knee pain and hip pain show up when hill residents add steps without a plan. Plantar fasciitis shows up in people whose walking is almost all concrete between the car and a door.

South on the 55

The 55 south to the 73 is the usual path to La Alameda. About 16 miles. Twenty-five minutes is a good day. Forty is a 55 that is not cooperating. Address: 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo, CA 92691. Parking at the building. Monday through Thursday, 9 to 6.

Do not book the visit as a gap between school pickup in Old Town and a meeting. The exam needs you present, not halfway back on the freeway in your head. Call (949) 312-1754. A complimentary 20-minute consultation is available if you want to meet the doctors before an evaluation.

Chiropractic, rehab, and labs from Tustin

McKenzie Method work is a strong fit when back or neck pain has a direction that makes it better or worse. Corrective exercise is the homework. Adjustments are used when a specific joint is restricted, after the screen that says a thrust is appropriate.

Functional medicine visits cover thyroid, sleep, and gut health when those are the actual complaint. The Tustin chiropractor page collects the local routes into the three pillars.

Questions patients ask

Is this personal training?

It is exercise prescribed from a clinical exam to change a specific fault. It can support training. It is not a general workout plan with your name on it.

How many drills will I have at once?

Usually a few. A short list that you perform with the stop rule intact beats a long list that falls apart at rep four.

What if the drill hurts?

Local muscle effort can be normal. Joint pain, spreading symptoms, or form that breaks are stop signs. The drill is changed rather than endured.

Do I still need hands-on treatment?

Often yes, early on, so the drill has a range to use. As the pattern holds under load, hands-on time usually shrinks and the exercise carries the plan.

Related methods and problems for Tustin

Corrective Exercise Therapy is one tool inside Neuromuscular Rehabilitation. It is not booked as a standalone trick disconnected from the exam. These links are the neighboring methods and the problems that most often lead someone from Tustin to ask about it.

Talk with the doctors before you commit to care

The complimentary 20-minute consultation is at 26400 La Alameda, Suite 100, Mission Viejo. Call (949) 312-1754.

Functional Restoration Institute serves patients across Orange County from our Mission Viejo clinic, including Tustin and surrounding Orange County communities.